What is Past is Prologue
by butterfly collective
Summary: Will, Alicia and the others work to defend a client beating a guard but will a few secrets get released along the way?
1. Chapter 1

Alicia woke up at the morning believing that she would find her husband lying next to her in the bed in their old home at Highland Park. Her children Zach and Grace would be up and about, getting ready to go to their prep schools.

That's what she had been dreaming about only it hadn't seemed like a dream. It had seemed real, the intricate details of the furniture in her bedroom, the sounds of the neighborhood waking up outside her window and the scents of coffee of the lavender sachet hanging in her walk in closet.

But when she opened her eyes and looked around in the darkness, she saw her cramped room in the apartment that she had rented after her husband had gone to prison. She had remained there when he'd been released on appeal, won his appeal and then spent time living there while under house arrest. He had been kicked out when she'd discovered he slept with her close friend Kalinda a couple of years earlier.

She hadn't really known Kalinda at the time but the revelation casually dropped by an investigator on the night of his reelection to the State Attorney's office had ripped their friendship apart anyway. Over time, she had forgiven Kalinda and she had forgiven her husband. In fact, the night he had announced his plans to run for the governor's seat, she had stood beside him, the good wife.

The wiser wife, but still she had supported his candidacy without reservation. Even after all the investigations he had launched against her law firm, she had still decided to support him.

It had hurt Will, the decision she had made but she had thought about all her options and she made the decision she did, not on impulse but to preserve her family.

The phone rang interrupting her thoughts. She glanced at the caller id and saw Will's name on it. Damn, she sat up on her bed in the darkness and called him.

"Hey Alicia…glad I caught you…did I get you up too early?"

The sun had risen enough to send pale streams of light through the curtains. She saw the first splashes of it bounce against a wall.

"No…I'm good…I couldn't sleep much after the news conference."

Silence met her and she knew she said the wrong thing but he must know that whenever her husband stood there with his consultant Eli Gold to update his campaign, she had to be there with him looking like the supportive wife and mother of his two children. At least they'd gotten that part right. Mike Kresteva had issued his own press conference to try to paint her in a negative light even more than he had after that conversation she had with him in the office.

The one where he'd lied in her face and told her she'd simply misunderstood or failed to correctly remember what had happened. That's when she realized what kind of snake he really had proven to be and that's when she had made that decision to support her husband.

Whether Will had a problem with it or not. His tone had appeared conversational with her so far.

"You looked composed up there Alicia."

He couldn't say that she looked good, or that he liked how she looked up there next to her husband.

"I felt composed Will. After all I've done this before."

A pause, then a sigh from him.

"I hope it works out better this time Alicia."

She took a deep breath feeling as she was already treading on dangerous waters with him. But she tried to keep it light.

"So what's this about Will is it work?"

"Yeah…the case that Matan Brody's handling for Cary is on the docket on Monday," he said, "I thought I'd put in some hours today doing some research on it."

"What about Cary? After all he has some background in it."

Will sighed.

"He's second chair…and he was willing to take that spot," Will said, "But we might need your help on some brief writing."

Alicia rolled her eyes. That type of work was best left to junior associates not those past their third year…but she might have some time today before she had to meet with Eli and Peter to discuss an appearance at a charity dinner. She'd gotten sucked into it

"So what's the case about?"

"It's Roxie Cavanaugh, the woman who beat up the guard in lockup while being held at the jail over the weekend after a DUI."

Alicia frowned.

"Wasn't she a paralegal at Stern's firm?"

"She was thinking about being a lawyer," Will said, "But this incident…this battery of an officer case…it could really mess things up for her."

Alicia knew that it would be harder for Roxie to get into a law school and even become a lawyer if she had a criminal record of a violent assault.

"She talk to any legal yet?"

"A PD was at her arraignment," he said, "Donna Seabrook, got her released on bail which someone paid off but she wants a private attorney to fight her case."

Alicia could understand why. Most PDs were so overworked that they pushed even pressured their clients to take plea bargains early on so they could clear their extensive caseloads. But wait a minute, wasn't Donna…

"Kalinda's ex…right?"

Will cleared his throat.

"Yes…her…another example of collateral damage left in her wake."

"Will…that sounds a bit harsh don't you think…?"

"Probably but she breaks hearts…"

Yeah Alicia knew that to be true but she had just started mending her friendship with Kalinda again after the deep freeze, despite how upset she'd been to hear about her one night stand with Peter she had missed her friend.

She sensed that Kalinda felt the same way but it wasn't always easy to read her.

"She didn't break yours did she Will?"

A nervous laugh.

"Of course not…I'm not a woman…"

Alicia didn't think it necessarily mattered. Kalinda seemed to still have a bit of mystery to her when it came to relationships.

"So will you drop on by the office," he asked, "Cary said he'd be there and Kalinda said she'd get the information from Donna but I'm not sure how she'll do that. They didn't part on the best of terms."

Alicia didn't think that mattered much either.

"She'll get the information we need," she said, "but we need more on this guard. Did you call the lockup?"

"They haven't given out any information on his history," Will said, "Said it's all confidential."

Alicia knew that's what the jail would say but it was still early enough in the case to get enough information to figure out how to launch the first offence.

Because as the saying went, the best defense was the perfect offense.

* * *

Diane got the phone call from Will that the defensive team was working on strategy for the Cavanaugh case. She'd heard bits and pieces about it from him but she'd agreed to bill it as one of the pro bonos. She didn't believe that Roxie had assaulted the guard in the jail unless there'd been a reason. She knew from experience how tough the guards were over female inmates and how often they tried to work an angle through their jobs either with drugs or sex with inmates.

Diane knew she'd start busting balls if there were any such abuses here. She knew that Roxie had been represented at the initial hearing to release her with bail. She would get a briefing from Will and Cary after the meeting and then make a decision on how to involve herself then. As for now, she had to go run some errands.

Kurt McVeigh had invited her to visit him in his cabin in Montana of all places and she had been thinking about it. She harbored strong almost animalistic feelings for him but they just were in two different places most of the time. But she did miss him still.

Her phone rung and she picked it up.

"Kalinda, what's going on?"

"Not much…how about you?"

Diane's mind worked because she knew with Kalinda it had always been about wanting something preferably for nothing or as little as she could get away with giving.

"You are heading to meet with the others?"

"Yeah…after I pick up the refreshments…"

"They foisted that on you this time?"

She heard an edge in Kalinda's voice.

"I volunteered to pick up some sandwiches from a deli does that surprise you?"

Yeah it did actually, Diane thought but her better judgment left her not saying it.

"No…not at all…I hope this meeting goes well. I understand Donna Seabrook handled the case initially."

Kalinda didn't pause at all.

"Yes she did…very well. Got her out on bail and as I understand it was posted."

"By who…?"

"I can't say…I don't know. I haven't checked with the bondsman."

"Kalinda…you shouldn't have to check."

Kalinda sighed, obviously wanting the phone call to end.

"Anything else you want to ask me before I head on down there?"

Diane didn't know where to start but she sighed instead.

"No…just that I think Donna must have recommended the firm to Roxie…which was very nice of her."

Kalinda didn't respond to that just clicked off the phone and continued on with whatever she must be doing. Diane thought her to be complicated but not as mysterious as people thought. When Cary had returned to the fold of the firm after his stint working the other side, she had expected some friction, between him and Will and him and Kalinda but everyone seemed to be working well together.

Though she wondered how long the détente would last until the first conflict erupted. No, she'd better enjoy the peace while it lasted because that probably wouldn't be much longer.

* * *

Kalinda picked up the sandwiches and headed back to her car looking around her carefully as she always did when out and about. She had a vigilant nature to her that not many understood or even tried to get which was fine with her. She didn't need that in her life people who took the time to figure her out just so they could say it. Like they had unraveled some deep dark mystery where there was none. She was just private in her life and kept it that way.

Better to let people believe that she used people only to get what she needed or wanted. Life was much less complicated that way.

Her phone rang.

"Hey Kalinda…"

Donna of course….she knew she would hear from her about the case.

"Yes I'm here," she said, "I'm on my way to meet with the legal team to discuss strategy in Roxie's case."

"Good…I'm glad she's in good hands," Donna said, "I'd handle it myself but I'm overwhelmed with cases and I've got six months of trials lined up already."

"Got it…Will's put Cary as second chair and Alicia's going to do the briefs."

"I thought she'd be busy on her husband's governor campaign now that he's got competition."

"Apparently not…she just didn't want to do the heavy lifting," Kalinda said, "Will's lead counsel and Cary's got that time in his cubicle as an ASA."

Donna chuckled.

"I didn't think he'd give that up," she said, "He seemed much happier there for a while."

For a while, Kalinda thought until he'd tarnished his performance and got demoted.

"He's back in his office and busy… and he'll do well on Roxie's defense."

Donna sighed.

"And what about you…are you going to help," she said, "Roxie needs your investigative skills and your willingness to…"

"To do what Donna…stretches the boundaries? Yes, I am working on it and I'll do what I have to do on the investigative side like I always do."

Donna paused.

"Yes…you were always better at your work than with relationships."

Kalinda bit her tongue wondering if their breakup would always be a sore spot with Donna. She just needed to get over it already and move on.

"I am choosing to focus on my work."

"I'll bet…you blur the lines between the two so much to get information…it made it much harder to relate to you."

Kalinda rolled her eyes not really wanting to hear about all this because it served no purpose. Their time together had simply run its course. They both were blameless for that yet Donna wanted to paint her as the villain.

But she had to get going, she had a meeting to catch and they had to figure out a plan to help Roxie. Not that it was much of a mystery of what had happened in that jail.

Because she knew Roxie.


	2. Chapter 2

Alicia got dressed to head down to the office and thought about calling Jackie to keep an eye on the kids but then remembered the two of them were no longer speaking. Grace had been fixing cereal and toast in the kitchen when Alicia went in to grab a cup of coffee and a bagel before heading on out.

"So you are going to work the whole day?"

Grace's matter of fact tone rankled at Alicia. Her daughter had gotten use to her absences even on the weekends. But she knew that Grace had band practice today now that she'd taken up the saxophone. She would be busy most of the day between that and hanging out with her friends mostly to talk about how uncool their parents acted. Zach had been more of a concern but he was out with his father on the campaign trail running errands and working on the phone bank. It'd be good for him to have more structure to his free time and learn responsibilities which would help him grow up and get him off the computer.

Zach had grumbled at first but this morning he'd taken off before she'd even awaken. He might be walking some of the precincts in the old neighborhood and likely would return home in time for dinner. His father rarely let him stay overnight because sometimes he had to travel as part of his campaigning. It was beginning to interfere with his job of States Attorney.

"Mom…we're out of orange juice."

Alicia sighed because she knew she should have gotten some at the store but she'd barely had time to get a shopping list together.

"I'll get some on my way home from work."

"Will you be there all day?"

Alicia sipped her coffee.

"Yeah…why," she said, "You need to be picked up afterward?"

Grace shook her head and Alicia saw her wearing a Grateful Dead tee-shirt. She wondered if she hung out with the Dead Heads when she wasn't looking. Ever since Kalinda had to rescue her from when she'd gone missing, Alicia had tried to keep a close eye on her daughter. So many bad things could have happened to her.

"I might go to the movies with Eve and Josie after practice."

"Have I met them?"

Grace shrugged and went to find her sweater.

"Maybe…I don't remember…"

Alicia sighed.

"Grace, that's not an answer."

Her daughter stared at her with piercing eyes.

"Mom…at the PTA meeting…when we were at the art exhibits."

Alicia thought back but she honestly couldn't remember back that far. Her life had been frantic lately what with all the intrigue at the firm, all the attempted takeovers and this conflict she had in her life involving both of the men in it.

"So what case are you working on?"

Alicia poured herself more coffee.

"A woman who is charged with assaulting a correctional deputy in jail and is facing prison."

"Did she do it?"

Alicia thought her daughter might just look interested in the answer to her question.

"I don't think so…I don't have enough information yet but it doesn't look like it."

Grace nodded, clearly processing it while rinsing her dish in the sink and putting it on the rack.

"I gotta go…Josie's mom is picking me up outside in a few minutes."

Alicia kissed her daughter goodbye and then went to get her briefcase to take with her to work. She saw a message from Peter on her phone but decided it could wait.

She was running late as it was and she already had some suggestions of how to handle this case. Roxie was out on bail so that was a lot of the battle done but how to handle the case itself? She asked herself as she headed down the elevator to her car.

* * *

Will arrived at the office building and walked inside it. It was mostly deserted because they were ahead on billable hours so everyone had taken off for the weekend. Will had planned to go on another road trip in his new convertible until he'd gotten the call. He'd left his suitcase half packed and had just spent part of the night doing some basic research on his laptop.

He'd skipped going to the gym and hitting the treadmill hard before hitting the court for another basketball game. He had been shocked when Kalinda said she would hit the deli on the way over for some sandwiches. They had plenty of bottled water and other beverages at the office.

Cary had been sleepy when he had been called but had recovered quickly enough. He didn't mess spending his weekends at the State Attorney's office prepping for prelims and trials and he had always enjoyed keeping his nose to the grindstone at Lockhart and Gardner. Will knew he thrived on his new workload and enjoyed his bigger office.

There had been some friction between the two of them but that couldn't be helped. Not after what Peter had ordered Cary to do during his vendetta against the firm that employed his wife. Alicia had been naughty when she'd strayed away from standing by her man, in this case her no-good husband Peter.

Will never thought that Peter deserved Alicia, not after the way he had treated her by getting involved in a sex scandal and corruption cases. Will still wasn't convinced that Peter had been entirely innocent of the charges against him. Somehow with the right team of sharp lawyers and consultants, he had squeaked out of his criminal case and gotten reelected into office by the gullible voting population of people who somehow felt that corruption was so interwoven in the fabric it could be forgiven.

But not Will, even though he'd gotten a taste of what it was like to be charged. Still he had been mostly innocent.

"Hey how long is this going to go?"

Will looked up and saw Cary dressed pretty casually and carrying his legal satchel. Cary set it down on the conference table and then went to pour himself some juice. He looked like he had worked out that morning and seemed pretty relaxed.

"Most of the day…you got plans."

Cary just smiled at him.

"Not until five…then I got a date."

Will pondered that news.

"Anyone I know?"

Cary went to sit down at the table ready to get to work.

"Someone who hasn't been out with Kalinda…"

Will nodded, joining Cary at the table to get started while waiting for the others to arrive.

"Someone straight then for a change…?"

Cary didn't seem bothered by Will's choice of humor but pulled a file out of his satchel and grabbed his highlighter, all business.

"So can we get started?"

Will nodded.

"Alicia's on her way here," he said, "We might hear from Diane herself later this afternoon and Kalinda's out doing what Kalinda does."

"Donna was one of her…friends."

Will shot Cary a look wondering if he really believed that but saw that he didn't.

"They ran together for a while…Donna's a PD with a heavy caseload and the Cavanaugh case is going to need a lot of attention."

Cary skimmed through his file with his highlighter.

"So Roxie beat up a deputy in the jail?"

Will shot Cary another look for his rather cynical read on the case…but then the guy had been working for the other side for nearly a year.

"That's what the report will say," Will said, "but Donna said there's a whole other story here."

"I'll bet…but if she assaulted a deputy while in jail I don't know what we can do except get her a sweetheart deal from whoever's prosecuting."

"That would be your pal Brody handling the case since you left."

Cary remained silent for a moment.

"Brody's not my pal."

No, Will supposed Brody wouldn't be after the stunts that he had pulled as part of the various vendettas coming out of the state attorney's office targeting the firm. The former head prosecutor hated it because Peter's wife worked there. The current one hated it because his wife worked there. If Peter hadn't been distracted by the governor's race, half of the law firm might be in jail on contempt charges or under investigation for some trumped up nonsense.

But Peter had backed off for now because he had new enemies out to get him during this phase of his political career. The guy must be so addicted to power and what it promised because he kept running for office…when he wasn't serving time in prison of course.

"So when do we hear from Kalinda?"

Will looked at the younger man imagining what kind of hell it must be to have the enigmatic investigator on the brain especially since she swung both ways.

"She's out doing some information gathering so we'll hear from her when we hear from her."

Cary went back to his notes. Will looked up and saw Alicia breeze on in with her work materials on the case. She looked at the men.

"Where's Roxie?"

Cary and Will looked at each other.

"She supposed to be here," Cary asked, "because she hasn't shown up."

Alicia looked at Will.

"Did you get the police reports?"

He sighed.

"Not yet but Diane said that Donna told her about the case and you know Diane doesn't think Roxie did it."

Alicia went to pour herself some juice.

"Didn't they have surveillance cameras?"

Will looked through his own papers.

"Apparently not covering the whole jail facility…no, a lot didn't show up on film."

Cary nodded.

"Right but were there any witnesses?"

Will shook his head.

"I don't know…haven't gotten all the reports yet. The prosecutor is holding out on us, no surprise there."

Cary clenched his jaw looking up.

"They're just doing their jobs," he said, "She could have done it you know. She could have attacked the deputy."

Alicia looked straight at him.

"Anything on the guard's background…?"

Cary sighed.

"You know there's going to be prohibitions in place against getting too much information on him."

Alicia did know that but she knew there were ways to find out if he had a background of any type of misconduct including excessive force. She had a feeling there was something about this particular deputy…

"She might have had a record."

Alicia shot a look at Cary.

"That might be relevant if it's true and it might not be."

Cary just shook his head jotting some more notes on a pad.

"Hopefully Kalinda can find out what we need to know…"

* * *

Kalinda had bought the sandwiches from the deli and packed them in her car before heading to the office. She'd canvassed the neighborhood around wondering if anyone in any of the businesses had witnessed the initial DUI involving Roxie that led to her arrest. Not much luck so far because most of the businesses had locked up for the night leaving them empty.

She'd return to hit the other side of the street further down but she had to get to the office for the meeting. Looking at her watch, she realized she'd missed most of it but that had been on purpose. She was too busy to sit in the conference room for some meeting which wouldn't do much to help with this case.

Roxie wouldn't be there, Kalinda knew that because she couldn't relate to a group of white bread straight attorneys questioning her about what really happened. Not that she could blame her for that but if she kept her distance, then she'd probably be going to prison.

Not where she belonged because her time in jail had shown that. Whatever happened to her Kalinda didn't believe she instigated it. If only she could get the guard's name but that was proving to be elusive so far. She knew that often in criminal cases, the name of the involved employee wasn't released but this was getting ridiculous.

She'd have to do more research in the human resources department even after getting the deputy's name.

But for now, she had to head back to the office, back to Will, Alicia and of course Cary. She wasn't looking forward to sitting with any of them. Maybe she should just skip it and do further canvassing on her own. If she did that she knew they'd just scold her at the office especially Cary. Right before he reminded her that he didn't trust her. Yeah well, whatever. She had a job to do and she couldn't deal with men and their issues including with her.

She'd do her thing, get more information and then go to the office when she was good and ready. She didn't see the car tailing her as she walked down the street back to her car.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter met with Eli at a restaurant in a booth eating Italian pasta and sipping Scotch. They had taken an early lunch after supervising the phone banks and precinct walking assignments. Zach had walked in the old neighborhood of Highland Park but before he'd gotten too far, he'd run into a couple of his old friends and they'd taken off to the movies.

But the campaigning was going well. That bastard Kresteva and the threats he had made against Alicia. Like most of his political rivals, he knew that his Achilles heel was his family. Even though he had betrayed them with past transgressions, he still wanted to protect them from any harassment from his rivals in the governor's race.

"You know we're weak in the Black vote."

Peter wasn't surprised after that flip flop Eli had him do in the State Attorney's office. If he had it to do all over…no he wouldn't have changed a thing because he wound up getting elected into his old job in grand style. One of the greatest political comebacks in history it had been called, hardly grassroots and he had played down and dirty to win it.

He would do it this time as well and Eli had been busy plotting his plans of attack against any and all challengers. But the other candidates particularly Kresteva had promised to do the same to him. He of course hadn't told Alicia that and she had stood behind him when he had declared his candidacy which brought back memories of how it had been when he'd decided to run for state attorney the first time. But Alicia hadn't been shiny eyed and enthusiasm in front of the cameras this time. She'd look wan and in her eyes, wariness had been there. Eli had told him to have a talk with his wife about her presentation in public but Peter knew better than to even go there.

He'd do his best to make sure she was protected during the campaign but she had to do her part to be the good wife to him. She might have some difficulty with that part because he knew she harbored lingering feelings for Will.

Peter scowled knowing he had tried his best to bring Will down and had failed. Kalinda hadn't been the tool that Dana had hoped. But Peter knew not to trust her and Cary had been so pissed off at her for soe reason. But then Cary had failed him too and had to be demoted.

Now he was back in the fold with Diane, Will and Alicia and Matan had told him that they were gunning for the office on the case involving Roxie Cavanaugh. His office had charged her with assaulting a correctional deputy and he hoped it would all go quietly into a plea bargain.

Until that dyke PD Donna had stepped in, gotten Roxie out of jail and handed it off to the enemy.

"So we're going to have to get you sharp for the debate next month and you'll have some of the obligatory appearances at various chambers."

"I have some challenging cases coming up the pike at the office."'

Eli didn't look impressed.

"What else is new…hand them off to your underlings. This time in the campaign cycle is the most critical. Now that people are forgetting about the scandal, we need to get you more name recognition."

Peter smiled at the waiter as he brought him more pasta.

"Eli…have you ever heard of Roxie Cavanaugh?"

The consultant dug into his pesto.

"No should I have?"

"She can cause a lot of trouble now that Will, Alicia and the crowd are defending her."

Eli smiled as he did whenever Alicia's name came up.

"Good…a battle between the forces of good and not so good is what you need right now…as long as you win it."

Peter sighed, wondering what the hell Eli was thinking. He had come up with some rather odd campaign strategies lately.

"My office will win it but it's going to get pretty ugly."

Eli smiled, sipping from his glass.

"Good…it will make for great viewing."

Peter grimaced.

"Matan isn't one of my top attorneys…not like Cary."

Eli looked directly at him.

"He didn't betray you and switch teams."

Peter gave Eli a funny look.

"He went to your firm so maybe I should just fire you."

Eli chuckled.

"In the middle of the toughest campaign in your life, that'd be suicide Peter."

Peter knew that but he wondered if his own campaign consultant was setting him up for some kind of fall and then he thought, I'm just being paranoid. But Eli's face turned grave.

"If anything's going to be an obstacle, it's Alicia working with Will again. It would hurt you if the two of them hooked up again in some office affair."

Peter didn't even want to think about that. It was hard enough at night getting the visions of Alicia and Will together out of his head. But of course she had run to him after finding about his one-nighter with Kalinda.

"You don't have to worry about Will…I might not have knocked him out of the game but I hurt him."

Eli sighed.

"He's back and he's going to come slinging and if Alicia gets caught in the middle of that, it might hurt you in the polls."

Peter sighed and sipped from his Scotch and then he looked across the room where he saw her.

Jackie.

* * *

Kalinda sensed she was being followed but walked casually to throw her follower off. She wondered which investigative case had perked someone's interest enough to tail her. She could easily lose it but it made her curious. So she just strolled by the storefronts looking in the window, catching the dark car in the reflection.

It followed her, cruising down the street which wasn't too crowded with traffic. She thought about perusing some of the boutiques for some clothes.

Then she saw a woman coming towards her and she widened her eyes.

"Roxie…?"

The other woman just stopped and stared at her.

"I can't believe I ran into you here…were you following me?"

Kalinda shook her head picking up the hints of panic in Roxie's voice. She was dressed in leather pants and a silk shirt, her hair neatly rolled into a bun.

"No…I was in the area buying lunch to take back to the firm. We're meeting to discuss strategy in your case."

Roxie nodded, clearly not trusting her. But Kalinda didn't blame her. Trust was vastly overrated after all. The act of trusting was the first step towards getting burned or worse.

"Donna gave your case to us after she got you out of jail."

"I know…but it wasn't my idea," Roxie said, "She liked Will and thought he was a good lawyer."

Oh. Kalinda remembered when Donna had used him to get a reaction out of her. But she hadn't known that Donna had really any positive feelings about him. She did know that whatever feelings she'd had about Will had been enough to overcome her somewhat less than positive feelings about Kalinda.

It didn't matter because she knew she had the skills to help Roxie.

"So would you like to come to the office with me?"

Roxie narrowed her eyes.

"Why…who's going to be there?"

Kalinda read her body language and she thought it wouldn't take much for her to just take off running down the street away from her and everything else. Roxie hadn't been one to fight after all.

"It's just Will…Alicia…myself and…"

She saw that none of the names she'd listed was an unexploded mine.

"And Cary…"

Roxie shook her head suddenly.

"No…not him…he worked for the prosecutors. I remember seeing him all the time when I was helping on some criminal pro bono for Stern."

By the way Roxie mentioned his name, Kalinda could tell she missed him. Kalinda couldn't decide whether she did or not but she just smiled.

"No…Cary used to work for the dark side but he's back with the firm now," Kalinda said, "He's second chair. Will's first."

Roxie didn't look so sure and Kalinda didn't think it was personal. She just believed that Roxie hated the prosecutor's office now after what had happened. She knew the feeling.

"Give him a chance. If he's out of line, just tell me but I think he'll surprise you."

Some of it was true, she thought and she knew that Roxie needed help and Kalinda knew who could help her.

* * *

Will and Cary were at the point where they needed to settle something physically. Only Cary wanted to race Will around the block and Will wanted to settle it by pickup basketball.

Alicia held up her hands.

"We don't need to make a final decision but there will be no more talking about plea bargains until we investigate further."

Cary looked over at Will and nodded.

"Okay but if it doesn't look good…we'll need to revisit this conversation."

Will frowned.

"I don't think that the crime happened the way the initial reports said it did," he said, "I think I'd like to learn more about this deputy."

Alicia sighed.

"So do I but unless Kalinda can come up with something, we don't have much to go on…witnesses in jail cells just aren't seen as credible."

"We haven't seen her yet," Will said, "She was supposed to bring us lunch."

Cary smiled.

"She's probably catching up with some old friend somewhere."

Will narrowed his eyes.

"How do you know? Did she text you?"

Cary shook his head.

"No…I just know Kalinda."

Both Alicia and Will looked at him and he returned to his notes.

"Hopefully she'll be here soon because I'm hungry."

Alicia sighed.

"We've still got work to do."

And with that Will stopped grumbling and started looking through some of the police reports on Roxie.

"It says that she was picked up for a DUI?"

Cary nodded.

"From that place where some people here hang out and drink…Dana used to go there."

Will and Alicia looked at each other.

"Where did she go?"

Cary sighed.

"She took that federal attorney job," he said, "She was bitter about being played by your office."

Will gritted his teeth.

"She was gunning for my license and my career and if Kalinda played her, that's just business. If she's going to make it working for Peter, she can't fold up like an umbrella at the first time she's played."

Alicia appraised Cary.

"How do you know it wasn't something that you did?"

He frowned.

"Meaning…"

"Oh come on, most of those in the courts knew you two got together after Peter specifically forbade inter-office relationships."

Will shook his head.

"God I'm so glad I don't work in the public sector."

Alicia just rolled her eyes at him.

"Can you two just get over yourselves and focus on this case? I think I'm going to go and find out what's really behind that DUI…"

Will smiled.

"Sure you're not just going out for an early drink?"

Then Alicia's phone buzzed and she looked at it, seeing it was Kalinda.

"She's just texted me…she's with Roxie trying to get her to come to the meeting."

"Way to go Kalinda," Cary said.

Both Alicia and Will looked at him and he looked down at his notes.

"So you're going to interview the bartender," Will said, "and what if she was intoxicated?"

"They would have called her a cab…that's what I want to find out…as soon as this meeting is over and we get some work done."

Will nodded and Cary got up and went to pour himself some scotch. It was going to be a long day.

And it was about to get even longer.


	4. Chapter 4

Kalinda walked into the office with the prize of the day, Roxie Cavanaugh their reluctant client. They were all seated at the conference table and their eyes followed the sack of grinders she dropped in front of them. Hands started to fly and Will outmaneuvered Cary for the first sandwich.

"Oh this is heaven...," he said biting into it with his first real enthusiasm of the day.

Everyone started eating and Alicia reached into the bag and offered one up to Roxie.

"Would you like one?"

But Roxie shook her head and Alicia directed her to sit down. Kalinda just sat apart from them as she often did.

"So why am I here?"

Alicia and Will looked at each other and Kalinda wondered if they were playing footsie underneath the table. A wandering foot ever came her way; she stomped down on it with her boot. Especially if it were a man at the firm…

Kalinda smiled.

"You're here because I brought you here," she said, "These are your new lawyers."

"What about Donna?"

"She handed you to us because she's busy being a PD and you need a team of attorneys to counter what the State Attorney's office will throw at you."

Roxie looked at her hands.

"It all happened so fast…I was at the club drinking some shots with someone I met there…and then I had to go home. I thought I was fine…but then I got pulled over by the cops."

Alicia chewed a bite of her sandwich and nodded.

"Yes…and they did a sobriety test on you and you were above the limit."

Roxie looked confused.

"I didn't think I had that much to drink. Just three, maybe four shots of tequila. Lisa had more to drink than I did and did anyone stop her?"

Alicia sighed.

"Whether or not they arrested or even stopped Lisa has nothing to do with your case."

Roxie looked away.

"It doesn't seem fair. It seems like they sought me out."

Will looked over at Alicia but she was focused on her sandwich. So he smiled at the client.

"Yes but they have the right to do traffic stops and sobriety checks if they suspect that a motorist is under the influence….the law gives them discretionary powers."

Roxie looked at him as if she thought he were stupid.

"Yes but still…well maybe they followed me from the club."

Kalinda went to get a water bottle from the frig and this time she joined them at the table.

"Do you think that's what happened?"

Roxie shrugged.

"I just know I don't think it was an accident…"

Alicia cleared her throat.

"Okay they arrested you and took you to be booked at the station?"

Roxie nodded.

"Then they took me to the holding tank at the jail after that and the guard there was watching me…you know they do a strip search."

Alicia nodded.

"Sure are you saying that he did it?"

Roxie shook her head.

"No they had this older woman do it but he watched."

Alicia jotted some notes and Cary just kept filling his notepad. He didn't say much, actually content to be in the background for a change. Maybe his stint in the State Attorney's office had humbled him. But then again, he always had something up his sleeve.

"Who was the guard?"

The three attorneys looked up at Kalinda who sipped her bottle. Then they looked at each other and scrambled for the pitiful couple of pages of reports that they did get.

"Uh, it says it's G. Pruitt right here…that he's the one that Roxie assaulted," Cary said.

"Allegedly assaulted," Alicia said.

"Yeah okay allegedly assaulted whatever," Cary said, "It was after lights out."

Roxie rubbed her forehead.

"I was in my own cell at the back," she said, "and I heard the rattling of something when he approached and then he unlocked my cell and told me to come with him. He reached for his cuffs and I just looked at him."

Alicia frowned.

"He came to your cell after lights out to take you somewhere?"

"Yes but he wouldn't say where…I just was supposed to obey the order but something…"

Kalinda interjected.

"Told you what he was going to do to you."

"Yes…I knew he wanted to do something bad."

Kalinda leaned forward.

"So what happened?"

Roxie paused a moment.

"I knew I was right."

* * *

Eli frowned at Peter as he talked to Zach about what a good job he'd been doing even though Zach had slipped away to the movies with friends. He's been tailed without knowing by Eli's men to make sure it wasn't porn and they'd reported back that it was just an action flick.

"Your son's going to cause us problems I can tell."

Peter sighed.

"He's a good boy. He's a hard worker. Takes after the old man."

Eli looked at him directly.

"That's what I'm worried about."

Peter just didn't know what the fuss was about when it came to his children. Sure Grace was impressionable and picked up every trend and Zach was starting to hang round with a rather rough crowd but they were great kids.

"He's been seen with that trouble making Becca again."

Peter didn't know who his son hung around because he was so busy after all but he wondered why Eli enjoyed dinging the former cheerleader so much. Come to think about it, Eli seemed to have a thing for much younger women. He filed that away in case it would cause his campaign some problems.

"So are you going to have a talk with him, or am I?"

Peter lifted one of his hands.

"I'll do it but I'm going easy on him."

Eli just smiled.

"Whatever…just get it done. You're down 10 points in the polls and this underdog thing you've got going, it's been done to death."

Peter just didn't care as long as it got him elected. Politics called to him like a Siren even while he'd been locked up in prison on those bogus corruption charges.

"And what about this Roxie Cavanaugh case…is it going to get untidy for us?"

Peter hesitated, not sure whether he should tell Eli the complete truth yet. No, there were some things a man had to keep close to his chest.

"Oh and we're getting these mysterious blackmail letters," Eli said, "Unsigned but the writer says he's uncovered some evidence of a shocking secret that will bury you politically."

Peter just looked blank.

"Any idea of what that might be or am I going to have to guess?"

"No…no I don't…but I wouldn't worry about it."

"It's my job to worry and yours to be more forthcoming with everything in your background and life."

Peter gritted his teeth.

"It's nothing…"

Eli didn't say anything but Peter guessed he knew he was lying.

* * *

The two of them walked towards the elevator after the meeting ended.

"So where should we start?"

She turned to face the baby faced attorney.

"I'm doing the investigation," she said, "When I need a man to help me I'll give you a call."

Cary smiled at Kalinda in that way that indicated that he thought he got her. But she knew that was delusional thinking on his part. She didn't want him tagging along after her. If she needed him then she'd call him.

"Kalinda…you wound me," he said, "Besides Will and Diane won't credit my billed hours unless I carry my weight."

She tilted her face.

"I will tell them I don't need your services and they can assign you someplace else."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Is this because of what happened when I was in the State Attorney's office?"

She sighed.

"No this is because I work best alone."

He digested that.

"You can't always do that. Besides with two of us, we can find more to report back to Will and Alicia."

She somehow doubted that but he looked so eager to go out into the field rather than stay in the office. Besides, maybe he'd get bored or distracted and go away so she could really do what was needed to get the information needed to help Roxie.

Roxie, much more complicated than she appeared. Kalinda knew that kind of complicated.

"I bet they put us together so they could be alone."

She looked over at him and wondered how long he was going to hold onto that edge of resentment that Alicia had beat him out for the associate position.

"Cary…you need to get on with your life," she said, "Will and Alicia work well together."

"In more ways than just business…"

During moments like this, she always wished she had her baseball bat. But she decided on a slightly softer approach.

"Stop it Cary…this resentment you carry for a decision that was made over a year ago is getting old," she said, "and if we're going to work together, I'll need your full attention."

He switched to being more attentive.

"Okay I can do that. "

She nodded slightly.

"Good now let's get one thing straight," she said, "and that I take the lead and you'd better stay out of my way."

A flash of indecision flashed through him and she just waited for it to pass. She'd let him hang around long enough and ditch him when she'd had enough of him. Why had he really come back to the firm? She knew soon enough she'd find out.

* * *

Will and Alicia just stared at each other.

"So where do we start?"

He smiled at her dressed in jeans and basketball jersey.

"Well we could do some legal research while we wait to hear back from the others."

Alicia laughed.

"I suppose so…I'm glad you paired Cary with her."

Will nodded.

"You don't trust him either."

"No I don't…he ran back to the firm too quickly," she said, "I wonder if he's working for Peter."

Will's brow furrowed.

"Could be…a spy perhaps and if so, who's he after."

"I don't know Will….I know what almost happened to you."

Will sighed, coming much closer to disbarment than he'd ever feared but everything had worked out because he and Kalinda pulled the double cross on Dana.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said, "Now let's go and see what we can do to help figure out what happened with Roxie."

"I'm not sure it's exactly what she said."

"You have doubts?"

Alicia nodded.

"So do I but we'll never know until we get started putting together a case so let's get started…"

Alicia somehow didn't think it looked good but she was eager to get started as they left the building.


End file.
